If you use lightroom or photoshop, you can burn doen the sand. Sand is always bright. Remember that our eyes will drift to the brightest object in the Frame. I will often dodge and burn some ieepers tgat are going to print. When I shoot wide angle, i will often put my camera to the sand and shoot upwards, eliminating alot of the sand in the foreground,

So move the strobes further out, point them more outwards, and maybe position them a little higher? Or at least pointed more upward?

I think underexposed refers more to the elements not lit by the strobe. A slower shutter speed would have allowed a brighter blue without making much difference to the strobe-lit foreground. A lighter background would have helped to disguise some of the backscatter as well.

I think underexposed refers more to the elements not lit by the strobe. A slower shutter speed would have allowed a brighter blue without making much difference to the strobe-lit foreground. A lighter background would have helped to disguise some of the backscatter as well.

Gotcha, I was actually thinking the opposite and keeping the shutter speed high to reduce ambient light.

The strobes need to be angled upwards to darken the intrusive sand, and, as we have all done, you haven't got close enough. Your rig should let you get much closer to the subject, and that, by itself, will improve the strobe lighting.

I would shoot this sort of subject by getting close, shooting upwards to remove the sand from the frame, and choosing a shutter speed to get the colour of the blue background right:

Next time you are in the water with this new setup, try this (from Martin Edge's book) to help you get a sense of what setting to start with for getting the blues you want in the background. Using wide anlge setup and no strobes, pick a spot and shoot into the blue water different f stops and shutter speeds. Keep going until you get the type of blue you like. Make a note of what f stop and shutter speed you like best. Then use this as a starting place when you add your strobes to fill in the foreground. It really does help to try this exercise - and it can help give you a sense of how ambient light can work with your strobes to fill in the main focus of your picture. I was having a horrible time of lighting my wide angles stuff until I worked on this piece and understood how I wanted the blues to look.

Next time you are in the water with this new setup, try this (from Martin Edge's book) to help you get a sense of what setting to start with for getting the blues you want in the background. Using wide anlge setup and no strobes, pick a spot and shoot into the blue water different f stops and shutter speeds. Keep going until you get the type of blue you like. Make a note of what f stop and shutter speed you like best. Then use this as a starting place when you add your strobes to fill in the foreground. It really does help to try this exercise - and it can help give you a sense of how ambient light can work with your strobes to fill in the main focus of your picture. I was having a horrible time of lighting my wide angles stuff until I worked on this piece and understood how I wanted the blues to look.